NFBC Drafting – Team two – Kershaw time

In my second draft, I had the fourth pick. This was another of the 50 round/15 team leagues and this time I was drafting the team based on my own rankings. These drafts by the way, are what are called slow drafts, they take place over a month depending on the speed of the league owners. You get 7.5 hours between each pick but a good league will have an auto-queue setup and the picks go very quickly. Only twice did the clock run all the way down. Because of this slow draft, you should end up with quality teams since you have plenty of time to research each pick. Quite different than the 3rd draft I did which is a 30-second clock for each pick, and is over in usually two hours for 450 players. No matter how prepared you are you still end up with some panic picks because the 30 second clock goes very quickly.

I crossed my fingers that Kershaw would last to the 4th pick and when he did I had him on my team for the time since 2015 when I made my deep run for the NFBC Main championship.

Now I had to build an offense to make up for the fact I used the 4th pick on Kershaw. I think I did quite well with Encarnacion lasting all the way until I nabbed him with the 26th pick. I followed that up with Story, JD Martinez, Yelich, Contreras, and Kemp before I took another pitcher.

Players who I coveted late and got were Carlos Gomez (12th round), and Dansby Swanson (13th round). I snagged Moncada in the 14th and since he’s going to start out in AAA I was lucky to get Kolten Wong in the 24th to be my starting 2nd baseman until Moncada comes up to wreck havoc upon the league (or strikeout nine times in a row).

Same players on this team as my first draft:

Cameron Rupp (18th round)

Brandon Finnegan (25th round)

Eddie Rosario (28th round)

Tyson Ross (29th round)

Ozzie Albies(30th round)

Brandon McCarthy (34th round)

Brett Anderson(41st round) (playing the edges)

Henry Owens(50th round)

This was a much more Dodger-centric draft since I got Kershaw with the 1st pick. Besides Kershaw, I got Turner in the 9th, Alex Wood in the 27th, Bellinger in the 35th, Gutierrez in the 43rd, and the above mentioned McCarthy in the 34th. Trying to cover my bets with either Wood or McCarthy making the starting rotation at some point this season. Best case scenario is that McCarthy gets traded to a starting gig, and Wood gets his place in the Dodger rotation. Worst case, Wood goes to bullpen, McCarthy sucks.

Everyone loves Urias but the 150 IP cap is keeping them from drafting him before the 10th round. Yet, Hill has the same health cap and he’s going in the 8th or 9th. I’d rather have Urias but have yet to nab him in a draft. Dabnabit.

Dodger Draft notes:

Rotation:

Kershaw was the 4th pick (Me)

Kenta in the 7th

Hill in the 9th

Urias in the 11th

Wood in the 27th (Me)

Kazmir 28th

McCarthy 34th (Me)

Ryu in the 27th

Brock Stewart 39th

Ross Stripling 44th

Bullpen:

Jansen in the 4th

Dayton 43rd

Pedro Baez in the 39th

Romo 34th

Infield:

Seager in the 2nd (20th overall)

Turner in the 9th (Me)

Grandal in the 1oth

Gonzalez went in the 10th round

Forsythe in the 15th

Barnes 35th

Chase 37th

Outfield:

Joc in the 15th

Puig in the 17th

Toles in the 25th

Andre in the 38th

Gutierrez in the 43rd (Me)

Fun picks were Rubby near the end. If health permits I still see a hard throwing bullpen arm that could morph into a closer given the bullpen situation in Arizona. Corbin could bounce back. Bellinger just in case.

The catcher strategy in this long game was to take every Phillie who might catch so I have Rupp/Alfaro/Knapp.

I could see Robertson getting traded and hopefully Nate Jones taking over as closer. Worse case with Jones you get awesome peripherals.

I do think Yelich at 5 and Kemp at 7 were excellent picks. Kemp may not be a “good” player anymore but he’s still an excellent roto bat. Yelich might be on the cusp of becoming one of the great hitters in baseball. I drafted Contreras a little higher than I wanted but I wanted an offensive catcher for this team and I got one.

I like this team much more than my first team so I’m curious to see how it plays out. The ranking comes via the Rotowire projection simulator for 5×5.